Recap: Buckeyes Take Down No. 8 Purdue 82-74 To Keep NCAA Tournament Hopes Alive

Ohio State (18-11, 10-8 Big Ten) helped its NCAA Tournament chances by taking down No. 8 Purdue (22-7, 12-6), 82-74 at the Schottenstein Center on March 1.

The Buckeyes earned their second Quad 1 win of the season with the eight-point win, getting out to a double-digit lead in the second half and closing the game strong to stave off a late Boilermaker comeback attempt.

Ohio State was able to keep the game close early on, making it 6-5 at 16:47 with a hook shot from senior center Christoph Tilly. But Purdue took the lead back with a three-pointer from senior guard Braden Smith.

After Smith made a fast-break layup off an inbound turnover by the Buckeyes, senior guard Bruce Thornton scored his first points of the game on a step-back three-pointer. However, the Boilermakers followed that with two deep balls from sophomore guard C.J. Cox to take a 16-9 lead.

Ohio State followed by tying the game at 16 with a 7-0 run that included sophomore guard John Mobley Jr.’s first three-pointer of the game. He was 0 for 3 from beyond the arc to start the game.

Purdue stopped the run with a corner three from senior guard Fletcher Loyer, but Mobley made one of his own the next trip down the floor. Mobley gave the Buckeyes a 21-19 lead at 7:39 with a jumper and freshman forward Amare Bynum extended it with a jumper of his own.

Sophomore center Ivan Njegovan made it a six-point lead on a putback dunk before Cox and Mobley traded threes. Smith then came out of a timeout with a three-pointer of his own to make it 30-27.

Ohio State outscored Purdue in the final two minutes of the first half to go into the locker room with a 36-31 lead. The Boilermakers made just 11 of 28 shots from the field in the first 20 minutes, eight of them coming from three-point range. They shot 3 of 14 from inside the arc (21.4 percent).

The Buckeyes began the second half outscoring Purdue 9-3, with a three-pointer from Mobley making it45-34 before a Boilermaker timeout. Out of the timeout, OSU scored four more points to take a 14-point lead with 17:03 remaining.

Senior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn brought it back within 10 points before Cox made a fast-break layup off a Mobley turnover to make it 50-42.

After Kaufman-Renn converted a three-point play, Ohio State was able to take advantage of two offensive rebounds, with Thornton knocking down a wide-open three-pointer to get back out to a 10-point lead with 12:02 left in the game.

Smith and Thornton traded buckets for a couple of minutes before sophomore guard Taison Chatman had a steal and a fast-break layup to make it a 13-point Buckeye lead with just over nine minutes left. Mobley made it 65-51 with an off-balance three nearly a minute later.

After two free throws from junior forward Devin Royal and a Purdue layup, both teams went scoreless for over two minutes until Kaufman-Renn converted another three-point play at 5:02 that made it 67-56. A Kaufman-Renn floater got the Boilermakers back within nine points, and Ohio State’s lengthy scoring drought continued.

Royal’s two free throws at 3:26 were the first Buckeye points in 4:15 and gave OSU a double-digit lead again. Purdue took advantage of a Royal foul after Loyer made a three-pointer and a layup made it 69-63.

Bynum followed that with a three-pointer and Royal had a putback dunk to stretch the lead back out to 11 points with 1:40 left in the contest.

The Boilermakers got within six points again on a three-point play from redshirt freshman guard Jack Benter with 31 seconds left, but Thornton made two free throws and the game was out of reach for Purdue.

Mobley led Ohio State with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting, with five of those makes coming from three-point range. Thornton (20), Bynum (14) and Royal (12) followed with double-digit points, while Royal had a team-high nine rebounds.